In Smith’s Fires in
the Mirror, it is imperative to include the first section of the play in
which those being interviewed are not directly related to the Crown Heights
incident. The first few interviews give
the perspective of a range of people about their own personal identity and their
feelings about it and how others perceive them.
These interviews are very good at showing the humanity of both blacks
and Jews at different stages of their life.
These interviews exemplify that both blacks and Jews struggle through
the same things in regards to how others perceive them and how they feel about
themselves, they both have a strong sense of community and are rather resilient
in sticking together, they both also express that they just want to be accepted
for who they are and that they don’t loo down on others, but they just want to
be looked at in the same way that others are looked at. With this being said, with out those
interviews, the next interviews could be perceived in the wrong way and it can
appear that each side is too rash with the other and that they are both reacting
in a very intense way, but really they just both feel discriminated and they
feel like they need to defend themselves, even violently to maintain their
identity so something unjust and disgusting like The Middle Passage or the
Holocaust is not repeated. Without the
first set of interviews, the play would lack the essential part in which both
Blacks and Jews lay out their similar struggles and where they came from and
how they go tot be where they are in their way of thinking, which happens to be
a very similar way of thinking.
I agree. The first section of the play does give a range of perspectives about different people and their own identities. I kind of felt that part was there to also give the audience some insight as well and “represent” the majority views instead of the minority. The first few interviews aren’t as extreme as the last few and if the first part was cut, the story would be different. All we’d have would be the incident itself, so all those who took part would appear to be overreacting or something. Again, I second your opinion Yvette. The first section is vital because it shows that these are still people.
ReplyDeleteYvette, I totally agree. I like how you said that it shows how both the Jews and the Blacks were going through similar experiences and feelings even before the riots occurred. Therefore, we get to hear both opposing sides instead of hearing the story just from one side. This allows the audience to form their own un-biased opinion instead of the play already giving them a side to fight for. Without the first couple of monologues, the audience would not know what kind of people the riots involved.
ReplyDeleteI definitely said something along the same lines about how important the first part is. If those experiences were not shown how would we know exactly what life was like because the Crown Heights Riot kind of rose up from nowhere. The monologues before show how the black people and jews worked together, and created this community because each side has felt the heat of never being accepted anywhere.
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